Don Wilson (kickboxer)

Early life

Wilson was born to an American father and Japanese mother in Alton, Illinois. His older brother, James, was born in Japan, where his parents met. His father's job as an engineer for the Kennedy Space Center brought the family to Florida when Wilson was four. He attended Saint Andrew's School in Boca Raton, where he was an MVP in football and basketball. Wilson also tried his hand at wrestling, in which he excelled enough to score a 4th place in the Florida State Collegiate Wrestling competition.

After high school, Wilson he was accepted into the prestigious Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut in the fall of 1972. Wilson has stated that his brother challenged him to friendly sparring, which he imagined he would dominate since Wilson was more physically imposing and athletic than his brother. To his surprise, he was easily knocked around by his brother's martial arts ability. He credits this experience as making a believer out of him, after which he would pursue martial arts. He began studying Goju-ryu Karate with Sensi Chuck Merriman for two hours a week for one year.

In 1973, Wilson left the academy and earned an associate degree in electrical engineering at Brevard Community College in Florida. He then enrolled at his father's alma mater, the Florida Institute of Technology, but dropped out to pursue a professional fighting career, to the elder Wilson's disappointment. During this time, he was trained by his brother Jim in Pai Lum Kung-Fu.

Don's nickname, "The Dragon" was used in his first professional kickboxing match in Orlando. He also had two other nicknames that were used at times during his long career.

In July 1977, Wilson defeated Howard Hayden. A report of the match in Official Karate Magazine said, "Don Wilson's showboat tactics have seen him through a couple of fights, but the Flash won't last long when the going gets tough." Wilson said he was hugely insulted; a few people began to refer to him as Don "The Flash" Wilson, which annoyed him. He said this inspired him to prove something: "I got serious."

Kickboxing career

Wilson won a total of 11 World Titles with several sanctioning bodies that included the IKF, WKA, KICK, ISKA, STAR and the PKO. He won his IKF (www.IKFKickboxing.com) FCR Cruiserweight World Title on May 15, 1999 in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA, when he defeated Dick Kimber. (Lynn, Massachusetts, USA PRO: 23-3/21, AM: 25-0/25 5'9" 197 lbs) At the end of the 3rd round Wilson came alive and exploded with a flurry that eventually knocked Kimber to the floor motionless. Referee Dan Stell counted Kimber out on the floor, a count that went into the round break. Kimber never stood during the count.

Having never been challenged for his title, Wilson voluntarily retired it to move down to the Light Heavyweight Division, where he eventually retired from fighting a few years later.

Hall of Fame 2010 by WKL World Kickboxing League (www.wklkickboxing.com).

According to Inside Kung-Fu Presents Kickboxing Magazine (August 1992), Don Wilson's professional kickboxing record was listed as 69 wins, 5 losses, 2 draws, 46 knockout wins, and 6 kick-knockouts, and 3 no-contests. On page 64, Wilson's first match with Bill Knoblok in Orlando, Florida in December 1974 is listed as a 3-round no-contest. However, on page 52 in the same issue, Wilson said about his fight with Knoblok, " But Bill won the third round by a larger margin than I had won the first. So he won the bout." Today the official result of this fight was listed as a no-contest on Wilson's official fight record because when he decided to fight for PKA, Joe Corley felt the rule of the bout was quite different from those of PKA, Corley told Wilson to omit it.

Wilson's kickboxing career spanned 4-decades; his first fight with Bill Knoblok in 1974 and his last fight, a 10th-round knockout victory over Eddie Butcher on July 19, 2002 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He defeated among others, world champions Branko Cikatic, James Warring, Dennis Alexio, and Maurice Smith. Wilson fought a draw with another champion, Jean-Yves Thériault. In 79 bouts, Wilson was only knocked out by Glen McMorris in 1980. Wilson's kickboxing record is listed as 72-5-2 (48 knockouts) with 3 no-contests.

He was noted for being an American-style kickboxer who challenged the fabled fighters from Thailand. He prevailed in most instances, only suffering a loss. However, the matches were always problematic, due to the differences in traditions, style and judging. For his fight against Samart, the officials who arranged the fight broke the previous arrangement, placing Wilson against a lighter opponent and forcing Wilson to lose 8 pounds on the day of the bout by sitting in a sauna from early morning until two hours before the bout, leaving him dangerously dehydrated. Wilson had also negotiated for a 7-round fight, which he officials also neglected. Furthermore, the thai judges only recognized Muay Thai techniques such as thai kick or those performed within the clinch, which meant that Wilson's only hope to win was to knockout Samart, which he was unable to do because of his dehydration. Wilson, a fighter used to 12 round fights, was exhausted in the 2nd round, a clear indication of the seriousness of his condition. Such reckless endangerment of a fighter's life would have been met with judicial repercussions had it occurred under a western sanctioning body.

Despite this unsporting and outrageous treatment, Wilson didn't push to have the result of the fight overturned and accepted his loss.

He was scheduled to make a comeback at 58 years old, against an unnamed opponent in a ten-rounder in Istanbul, Turkey in 2013. However at the last minute the fight in Istanbul was cancelled due to "breach of contract and non-performance of financial agreements". In 2014, he was honored with the U.F. of Legends Dragon Award at the Urban Action Showcase & Expo at HBO

Kickboxing losses turned into no contests

Early in Wilson's career, he lost three fights by decision; these losses were changed into no contests by the PKA (Professional Karate Association).

Wilson's first career match was against Bill Knoblock and he lost a 3rd decision. This match was later turned into a no contest by the Professional Karate Association as they listed it as an "amateur" match. "This amateur bout was part of Wilson's black belt examination." However, in a 2013 interview, Wilson recalled his first fight as a loss to Bill Knoblock on January 25, 1975 as a professional match in which he was paid $100 U.S. dollars.

On May 28, 1976 in Tampa, Florida, Wilson lost a 5-round decision to Rudy Burney in a PKA sanctioned match. However, the PKA later overturned the decision for, "improper procedures that impeded fair competition."

Finally, in September 1976, Wilson lost a 5-round points decision to Herb Thompson in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The PKA overturned the decision, citing improper procedures and inappropriate equipment which impeded fair competition.

Fighting Style

Wilson was fairly notable thanks to his unique fighting style as used in the ring. He was ambidextrous, being able to switch stance on a whim and attack powerfully with either side, although he preferred to fight strong-side forward, which is a characteristic of some Chinese Martial arts. He identified himself as mainly a kicker, claiming that was his forte and the reason why he never seriously considered boxing.

He has a particularly devastating lead side kick, and was known to perform single-leg multiple kicks in rapid succession. Despite the notions concerning early kickboxers in American and full contact karate styles, Wilson was no stranger to low kicks and could both employ them or endure them with ease. Despite his focus on kicks, most of his K.O's came through his punching, and he was particularly good with his lead (right) hook punch.

As a kung fu practitioner, he has claimed numerous times that he entered sport fighting because in the 70's the notion was that kung fu stylists couldn't fight, and he set out to disprove that myth.

Commentating career

Wilson was a fight commentator and interviewer in many of the early UFC events, beginning with UFC 7 in Buffalo. He stated several times that he would be willing to fight in the UFC himself if enough fans requested it, but it never happened. He went on to be a commentator for King of the Cage.

Film appearances

Some movies to his credit include: Futurekick, Bloodfist 1-8, Ring of Fire 1, 2 & 3, Out for Blood, Operation Cobra, Blackbelt, Cyber Tracker 1 & 2, Terminal Rush, Redemption, Say Anything... Capitol Conspiracy, and Batman Forever as the leader of the Neon Gang.

Personal life

Married film and television makeup artist Kathleen Karridene in 1996. They have three children together; Jonathan, Drayden, and Aubrianna. They are currently married.

Titles

Professional boxing career

Don Wilson said in a 2015 interview that he had a 6-3-0 professional boxing record with all three defeats by first round stoppage. He admits a change in his style lead to only an average boxing career.

Wilson had a brief professional boxing career. His biggest victory was against Muhammad Ali's former sparring partner John L. Johnson.

Wilson's last boxing match took place against Tim Jones on October 21, 1986 at the Reseda Country Club in California. Wilson had a 6-2-0 record in professional boxing going into this match, while Jones was winless in 6 bouts. Wilson lost by TKO at 2:58 of the first round. Ironically Dennis Alexio, who lost a kickboxing match to Wilson, had already defeated Jones. Jones went on to lose his next 4 boxing matches, and retired with a 1-10-0 record.